


wildest dreams

by sometimeswegetdonuts



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: AU, Angst, F/F, Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2019-01-29 18:32:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12636771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sometimeswegetdonuts/pseuds/sometimeswegetdonuts
Summary: "She’s a vision.Waverly Earp in her wedding dress, with flowers in her hair.Nicole’s never seen anything more beautiful in her life."...Waverly's getting married, only it's not to Nicole.





	wildest dreams

She’s a vision.

Waverly Earp in her wedding dress, with flowers in her hair.

Nicole’s never seen anything more beautiful in her life.

“What do you think?”

Waverly twirls, the lacy fabric lifting with the movement, making Waverly look like an angel; too good for this world.

“Beautiful.”

The truth falls from Nicole’s lips before she can even think to consider her response.

Waverly beams, and Nicole’s heart stutters.

_How is she even real?_

“Do you think he’ll like it?” Waverly asks, and Nicole is pulled back to reality with a thud.

She forces her lips into a smile.

“He’s gunna love it.”

…

Nicole dreams of telling her.

Waltzing into Shorty’s, saying “I’m in love with you, Waverly Earp,” and taking Waverly into her arms and never letting go.

Her dream version of Waverly grins and kisses her, and when Nicole wakes her heart is full and aching.

She can’t be so selfish in reality.

Waverly’s happy. She’s in love with Champ and she wants to marry him.

Even if Nicole can’t quite fathom what Waverly sees in the guy, even if she personally thinks Champ is a dimwit who doesn’t even come close to deserving Waverly, she can’t interfere. She repeats it to herself every time _“you deserve so much better”_ sits on the tip of her tongue, and she bites her bottom lip. She can’t interfere. She can’t be so selfish as to butt in where it’s not her place, or make her feelings known and ruin their friendship.

So instead, she dreams.

…

Nicole tries to avoid anything to do with the wedding.

Which isn’t exactly easy, given that it’s a small town and Waverly is the town’s sweetheart. Everywhere she goes people are talking about it.

Plus, she’s Waverly’s friend, and spending time with Waverly comes with the inevitability of discussing the wedding. But Nicole won’t sacrifice the time with Waverly, and she can’t manage to change the subject when Waverly starts talking about the wedding and gets that dreamy look in her eyes, so there’s not much she can do.

She talks invitations and registries and flowers, and when Waverly pouts and pleads with her to give her opinion on her dress or the invites or the band, even though Nicole should have no part in this, she can’t say no.

She’s never been able to say no when it’s Waverly.

…

The bachelorette party is populated with girls Nicole barely knows.

They’re drunk and they’re loud, and it takes all of three minutes for Nicole to regret offering to be the designated driver for the night.

If she were drinking, spending a night at a strip club for Waverly’s bachelorette party might be bearable.

Nicole scoffs at herself.

_Yeah, right._

But Waverly’s happy.

She’s laughing and smiling, the occasional blush creeping up her neck as she watches the men on stage.

 _So_ beautiful.

Nicole sips her soda, Waverly twisting her head and meeting her gaze with a soft smile.

Waverly gets up then, falling into the seat beside Nicole and leaning against her shoulder as Steph and Chrissy ogle one of the strippers on stage.

“Hey,” Waverly says, swaying slightly, and Nicole brings an arm around her, stopping her from falling.

“Hey. You okay there?” She asks, an enamoured grin splitting her face in two as she twists her head to look at Waverly without jostling her shoulder.

“Mmmm, I’m good,” Waverly answers. “You’re the best.”

“I’m the best,” Nicole echoes, amused.

“Yep. The best.”

“Okay,” Nicole says, laughing with Waverly, unable to help herself.

Nicole hears Steph and Chrissy say they’re going to ask about lap dances but she doesn’t register it, too distracted by Waverly, who lifts her head but doesn’t pull away, her face what feels like a breath away from Nicole’s.

Waverly, who is suddenly not so giggly, and whose eyes drift to Nicole’s lips for a moment before meeting her gaze.

It would be so easy to lean forward, to press her lips to Waverly’s. Waverly, who she’s loved for as long as she can remember. Waverly, her friend. Waverly, her drunk friend who’s getting married.

Nicole lets out a soft sigh, turning her head in the direction of the bar, breaking the moment.

When she turns back, Waverly’s flustered, and Nicole wants to beg off and go home, but she knows everyone is depending on her for a ride home.

So instead she stands, clearing her throat.

“I’m gunna grab a drink, do you want anything?”

Waverly shakes her head, and Nicole offers her a reassuring smile.

 _We’re okay_ , she wants to say. But that would mean acknowledging the moment, which Waverly most likely won’t remember in the morning.

Nicole certainly won’t be bringing it up.

She’s been swallowing the words _I’m in love with you_ for years; she isn’t about to blurt them out now.

…

Wynonna rolls into town three days before the wedding.

Word passes through the station faster than the town migrates to Shorty’s for happy hour, and suddenly every cop in Purgatory is on high alert.

Nicole has yet to meet Waverly’s sister, but she’s heard the rumours.

How she’s a bad seed, how she went crazy when her father and sister died, how the town was better off the day she left.

Waverly doesn’t talk about her.

Nicole doesn’t ask and Waverly doesn’t say anything, but Nicole knows Waverly misses her sister, that she has since Wynonna left. She sees it in Waverly’s eyes every time someone makes a comment about her being the only Earp left in Purgatory.

When Nicole spent hours stuffing wedding invitations into envelopes, Waverly had ticked everyone off the list except her sister.

_“I’ll email her. Though I doubt she’ll come.”_

_“Hey.”_

Nicole had squeezed her hand.

_“I’m sure she will.”_

Truthfully, she wasn’t so sure.

But apparently she’s not the only one who can’t help herself when it comes to Waverly.

When her shift ends she heads to Shorty’s, drawn there like a magnet.

Waverly’s behind the bar, an uncharacteristic scowl on her face.

“Hey. You okay?”

Waverly softens at the greeting.

“Hey. Yes.”

She slides a beer across the bar.

“I guess you heard?”

Nicole nods.

“I didn’t think she’d come,” Waverly admits.

“It’s your wedding, Wave. Of course she came.”

Waverly scoffs.

“Well, she’s spent the last three hours telling me this wedding is a huge mistake and that Champ is a dickbag, so I’m not sure she’s really here for the wedding.”

Nicole winces.

She might hate Champ, but Waverly loves him, and for some reason she wants to marry him.

If she wasn’t already convinced, she knows now that trying to convince Waverly otherwise is futile.

“I’m so sorry,” Nicole says.

She reaches across the bar, rubbing a thumb across Waverly’s wrist soothingly.

“I’m here for you, okay? Whatever you need.”

Waverly smiles, her gratitude plain to see.

“You’re all I need.”

…

Nicole’s beating Pete York at pool when she first meets Wynonna.

She stumbles down the stairs from Waverly’s apartment just as Nicole sinks the winning shot, taking Pete’s money with a grin.

“Wanna try your luck again, deputy?” Wynonna asks, picking up a cue.

Nicole presses her lips together.

“Why not?”

She’s two shots away from a win when Wynonna breaks the silence and shows her hand.

“Why don’t you just tell her?”

Nicole flubs the shot and Wynonna smirks.

“What?”

The tips of Nicole’s ears are fire.

“You know who I mean, Deputy,” Wynonna teases.

Wynonna sinks her last three balls and then the eight.

“Waverly.”

Nicole can’t help but glance to the bar, where Waverly is talking to Champ, oblivious.

Champ leans across the bar and presses a sloppy kiss to Waverly’s lips, and Nicole scowls involuntarily.

When she turns back to Wynonna, Wynonna has a knowing smirk on her face.

“I mean, you couldn’t be any worse than _Champ_.”

Wynonna practically spits the name, and Nicole feels a kinship with her already.

But then she sees the smile on Waverly’s face as she watches her fiancé walk away.

“She’s happy.”

Wynonna just snorts.

“That’s what she thinks.”

…

Nicole tells herself she doesn’t know why she came.

Even if it is a blatant lie.

The invitation sat in her desk drawer at work for weeks after she received it, out of sight but certainly not out of mind, until Waverly walked into the station and asked her why she hadn’t RSVP’d yet.

 _“You are coming, aren’t you?”_ Waverly had asked, looking so devastated at the prospect of Nicole not being there that there was no answer other than _“Yes, of course.”_

Sometimes Nicole wonders just how many decisions she’s made purely because of her inability to say no to Waverly Earp.

The church is decorated beautifully, just like Waverly pictured.

Everything in place.

Nicole pauses at the door, takes a deep breath.

She can do this.

…

She’s a masochist.

She must be.

It’s the only possible reason that she knocks on the door, instead of just taking a seat at the back of the church and blacking out until it’s all over.

“Come in!”

Nicole opens the door slowly, slipping into the room and closing it behind her.

“Nicole!”

Waverly is alone, her dress on, makeup done. She’s flawless.

Her hair falls in soft waves around her face, held back by pink roses at her hairline.

She’s breathtaking.

“Wow,” Nicole murmurs, before she can stop herself.

Waverly smiles, her cheeks pinking.

Nicole can’t help but imagine being the one at the altar as Waverly walks down the aisle, being the one to spend the rest of her life waking up to Waverly.

The image is too clear, too perfect, and Nicole’s heart _aches_.

Tears flash in her eyes, and she blinks them back.

She can’t do this.

She can’t watch the woman she loves marry someone else, even if Waverly is happy.

She thought she could. She really thought that as long as Waverly was happy she’d be able to do it.

But she can’t.

“Nicole,” Waverly starts, her brows creasing into a concerned frown. “What’s-”

“Congratulations, Wave,” Nicole gets out. “I can’t, I can’t stay, but I just wanted to say – congratulations. You make a beautiful bride.”

The words leave her mouth in a rush and she backs up towards the door, unable to wrench her gaze from Waverly but unable to stay.

“Nicole,” Waverly calls, confused, but Nicole just takes one last look, committing the perfection to memory, before pulling open the door and fleeing.

…

She goes to Shorty’s before remembering that the bar is closed for Waverly’s wedding.

So instead she goes home, downing the contents of the flask in her purse before reaching for the half empty bottle of whiskey sitting on the counter.

She kicks off her shoes and falls to the couch with the bottle in hand, images of Waverly in her wedding dress dancing before her eyes.

She’s a coward.

It’s Waverly’s wedding; her _friend’s_ wedding.

Waverly, who will be wondering what the hell made her act so selfishly on her wedding day.

Champ might be an idiot and he might rub Nicole the wrong way, but Waverly loves him, and he seems to make her happy.

And Nicole wants that for her, she does.

She just wishes she could be the one to give it to her.

…

Nicole doesn’t know how much time has passed when there’s a knock on her door.

She’s made significant progress in finishing off the bottle of whiskey that dangles from her fingertips, and everything feels fuzzy.

It’s far better than the alternative, the painful clarity that haunted her before, but she stumbles as she makes way to the door.

She barely gets the door open before Waverly steps inside, a flurry of movement.

“Waverly?” Nicole asks, unsure if this is reality or if she’s hallucinating.

She’s very possibly hallucinating.

“What the hell is wrong with you, huh?” Waverly demands.

She’s still in her dress but her hair is pulled back into a tight ponytail, her makeup smudged around her eyes.

She’s still a vision.

But the Waverly in her dreams is never this angry, never this upset, so she can’t be hallucinating.

“What?” Nicole wonders.

She’s had far too much to drink to understand what’s happening.

“Why didn’t you stay, Nicole?” Waverly asks slowly.

Nicole sighs.

“Couldn’t watch you get married,” she admits, her words ever so slightly slurred.

“Why?”

Waverly won’t back down. There’s fire in her eyes that is impossible to deny, and Nicole can’t even try.

“’Cause I’m so in love with you,” she mumbles. “Stupid in love with you.”

Her eyes are glued to the floor, her cheeks flushed.

She can’t bring herself to meet Waverly’s gaze, to see her reaction to the confession that has been on the tip of her tongue for years now.

But then Waverly’s in her arms, her hands finding purchase on her neck, pulling her in for a kiss.

And Nicole reacts without thinking, without even understanding what’s happening.

It’s not until Waverly pulls back, gasping for breath, that it starts to sink in.

“What-” she gets out, blinking in confusion. “Waverly?”

She’s no longer entirely sure that this is real.

“I love you, too,” Waverly says, before touching an achingly soft kiss to Nicole’s lips.

“You…” Nicole stammers, reaching for Waverly’s left hand, finding it bare. No engagement ring, no wedding ring.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Waverly asks.

Her face is so open, so utterly at a loss, and Nicole lets out a laugh.

“You were so happy, Wave,” she says. “I didn’t want to ruin that.”

Waverly just shakes her head, her fingers curling at the hair at the base of Nicole’s scalp before pulling her close, their foreheads resting together.

There are words on the tip of Waverly’s tongue, Nicole can see them almost spilling out, but at the last moment she changes her mind, her lips pressing to Nicole’s instead.

And Nicole can’t complain, can barely process a single thought.

All she can think and feel and see is _Waverly_ , and it’s all she’s ever wanted.

Eventually they fall to the couch and the kissing slows.

She’s nowhere near sober and Waverly’s still in her wedding dress, and it’s perfect.

…

They lie there for hours.

Nicole can practically hear the town buzzing with the news that Waverly Earp ran out on her own wedding, but she doesn’t care, because they have their own bubble of reality here on her couch and it’s all she needs.

She’s on her back, Waverly lying on top of her, her face resting on Nicole’s chest.

Nicole drags her fingers up and down Waverly’s spine lazily, revelling in the feeling of Waverly beneath her fingertips, and every so often Waverly raises her head, pressing kisses to Nicole’s lips or neck, as though she can’t go without for any longer.

The quiet is blissful, and Nicole knows there’s more that needs to be said, but she’s too content lying with Waverly in her arms to say anything.

But after a while Waverly lifts her head, her cheeks pink as Nicole’s thumb brushes against the warmth there before dusting a kiss to her lips.

“I never thought you’d want me,” Waverly admits, her voice soft when their lips part.

Nicole almost laughs, but Waverly looks so shy, so embarrassed, that she stays silent.

“You… you’re the only one who’s ever seen me, really seen me. Loved me for me. Just plain old Waverly.”

“There’s nothing plain about you, Waves,” Nicole interjects, unable to stop herself.

Waverly smiles, her fingers brushing across Nicole’s jaw tenderly.

“I thought it had to be too good to be true. You wanting me back. And then you ran out on my wedding, and when I told Chrissy, she just said ‘ _well, what did you expect?’_ and then she laughed at me when she realised I was oblivious.”

Nicole flushes.

She knew she wasn’t hiding it well; Wynonna had her pegged within seconds.

“I’ve been in love with you forever, Waverly Earp,” she confesses.

Waverly’s eyes narrow, doubtful.

“Really?”

“From the moment I walked into Shorty’s and saw you covered in beer.”

Waverly snorts, ducking her head.

But Nicole’s gaze doesn’t waver, and Waverly softens under the sincerity in her eyes.

“I wish you’d told me sooner,” Waverly murmurs, her fingers toying with the ends of Nicole’s hair.

“I don’t think I was all that subtle about it,” Nicole says, her tone teasing.

Waverly’s lips quirk into a shy smile, burying her head against Nicole’s chest.

“No, you weren’t. I just couldn’t see it. Couldn’t believe it.”

The words are muffled against her chest, but Nicole runs a finger down the slope of Waverly’s jaw, tilting her chin up.

“We’re here now.”

Waverly smiles and it’s contagious, a grin spreading across Nicole’s face too.

She doesn’t care what it took, if the end result is Waverly here, in her arms.

She tucks the wayward strands of Waverly’s hair behind her ear, craning her neck to brush her lips against Waverly’s.

When she pulls back, Waverly’s eyelids flutter, the hopeful joy in her gaze so unrestrained that it causes butterflies to erupt in Nicole’s stomach.

She couldn’t have dreamed it better.

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi on [tumblr](https://sometimeswegetdonuts.tumblr.com) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/wegetdonuts)


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